Edoardo Mortara beats new points leader Gary Paffett to victory at the Norisring

Mercedes driver Edoardo Mortara won the first DTM race of the weekend at the Norisring from pole position despite hard pressure from manufacturer colleague Gary Paffett in the closing stages. Paffett had to settle for second but claims the championship lead.

“I mean what a beautiful day for me. I had a very good feeling from the first session yesterday. The race was very good for me. They put me under immense pressure. But in the end it worked out and I am just over the moon,” said Mortara.

Mortara made a strong start and was in charge for the entire race, despite pressure from local BMW driver Marco Wittmann, who finished third, in the first part of the race and Paffett, who started fourth, at the very end.

“I am really happy. I had to fight really hard to stay in front of Philipp Eng after my stop, that was key to this result as we could pull away after that. I tried to pass Mortara a couple of times but toward the end I gave him a bit of race room. I am really happy with second place,” said Paffett.

Lucas Auer was the fourth best Mercedes driver in sixth position while manufacturer colleague Lucas Auer rounded off the top eight.

Audi had another dreadful race with Jamie Green as their highest placed driver in 11th position as Nico Müller, who was fastest of the Audi drivers in qualifying with tenth position, suffered a puncture on lap 18 and dropped to finish 18th and last.

Paffet heads the points table on 97 points with former leader Timo Glock, who finished tenth behind BMW colleague Joel Eriksson, in second on 91 points and di Resta third on 79 points.